LADY PAT

photos & details ex Craig Anderson

The owner of Lady Pat describes her as a ‘pub cruiser’ i.e. the perfect boat for navigating the upper reaches of the Waitemata Harbour & seeking refreshment at the Riverhead Hotel. I think that we will see more ‘Lady Pats’ as the popularity of the hotel grows.

Her owner is keen to find out more about her past, what he does know is an amusing read.

Lady Pat, 17′, was rescued from the side of Whangaparoa Road nearly 20 years ago by Stephen Harris (of Auckland Engineering Supplies), who paid $100.00 to the man and hauled her away. She had been stripped bare of her equipment and left sitting in the grass. Steve was told that the boat was built on Kawau Island by a retiring shipwright at the Lidgard yard. She was built of the kauri scraps left over from ship building it seems.
Steve took her home and began the restoration, with an eye toward sightseeing tours up the Puhoi river (another hotel location). While Steve was sanding off the blue paint from her transom he found ” Lady Pat” in pencil written there. After several years he found another boat and this project sat on a trailer in his shed. Two years ago he decided he would never get back to the little boat and offered it to his friend Craig Anderson, as a gift.

Craig moved Lady Pat to Wayne Olsen (Horizon Boats) for replacement of it’s cabin top and window frames along with glassing the topsides. Wayne also built a new drystack chimney for the two cylinder Ford that now powers it. I viewed her in Wayne’s shed while Waimiga was having her make-over (refer photos) & thought at the time that a vessel of this size was very lucky to be under the care of the Horizon crew.
After a lick of paint she was returned to Steves shed and waited for further repair and assembly, which was completed by Paul Middlemiss and Craig. She went back in the water at the Stillwater Boat Club in late March 2014.

08/04/2014 – Photos below ex Steve Harris & show Lady Pat as ‘found’ & at the start of the restoration process – have to say she was a very cute runabout 🙂

10/01/2015 – An update on ‘Lady Pat’
from owner Craig Anderson

“We enjoyed LP for only a short time on the water last season, caught some fish and got some hours on the little engine.
At 7kts she is a gentle performer on a smooth sea. Things get a bit wild on board when it’s rough, as she is small and buoyant.
After we pulled her out and put her on her new trailer last April, a list of jobs was developed, and one by one, done during the better days of the past winter.
We have just had the pleasure of returning to the tide and it is clear we have made improvements that will be enjoyed for years to come. Included below are two recent photos.”